Top Stories in Literacy: April 30

To Address the Digital Divide, We Must Go Beyond the Headlines
Working for ZeroDivide, a San Francisco-based nonprofit organization with a history of helping low income, minority, and other underserved communities leverage technology for social good, I think there’s a big piece missing from the studies about the digital divide.

Debt Management Credit Counseling Provides Payday Loan Assistance to Consumers
Debt Management Credit Counseling Corp, a nonprofit charitable organization (DMCC), announces new program to assist consumers struggling to repay payday loans. Program provides repayment plans with affordable monthly payments and suspension of collection calls. DMCC also approved by state to provide Florida residents a 60-day deferment of their loan payments.

Rep. Alan Williams visits Adult Community Education Center
Florida Representative Alan Williams made a visit to the Adult Community Education campus Thursday morning to speak to students. Williams, a member of the Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee, helps make decisions about the funding for Adult Education in Florida.

Progress Energy Invests in Future Generations
The Progress Energy Foundation is putting half a million dollar investment in the Florida school system. The money will fund energy education classroom projects as well as workforce development at high school career academies throughout the state. The funds will support public-education foundations, science centers and career academies.

Open Minds: The Latest Research on Adult Learner Outcomes

As a Florida adult educator, how open are you to using data and applying research? Research can apply to tutoring adults, counseling an adult learner, or making administrative decisions. If you like hearing stories, as told by numbers and adults, Open Minds may open your mind to applying the latest research. On May 10, join Dr. Margaret Patterson, Senior Researcher with Research Allies for Lifelong Learning (R-Ally), for this 3:45 session. Open Minds will discuss applying research on adult learner outcomes conducted in 2011 and 2012.

x
Are you open to looking at numbers? In 2012 R-AllyTM looked at outcomes data for adult education programs.* Data were from 2006-07 to 2010-11, the most current years available. Adult learners may have goals beyond learning English or basic skills. These goals might include getting or keeping a job. They may want to take the GED® test or go to college. If they meet a goal, they have made an outcome. Data on outcomes will reveal how outcomes change across time, both nationally and in Florida.

x
Are you open to hearing the rest of the story, beyond the numbers? In 2011 Dr. Patterson (with a team of researchers**) travelled to 7 different states to interview adult learners. The research team interviewed adults with GED credentials on their educational experiences from youth through adulthood. These interviewees included high school dropouts, immigrants, homeschoolers, and even 12th-grade completers. They didn’t hold back in sharing their stories. The outcomes they gained from their time in adult education may surprise you. This session will also consider their recommendations to adult educators. Find out what they suggested to make learning even better for future adult learners.

x

*The data source was U.S. Department of Education National Reporting System data.
** This study was originally funded by American Council on Education / GED® Testing Service.

Literacy Awards Banquet, have you bought your ticket?

The Florida Literacy Awards Banquet is on Thursday, May 10 from 6:30-8:30. It is our opportunity to highlight the many accomplishments in literacy over the past year. Awards will be given to adult learners, literacy practitioners, literacy programs, volunteers, and business partners. Dr. Gary Mormino from University of South Florida will be the keynote speaker.

It promises to be a very exciting and inspiring evening.

For more information or to register for the event, please contact Jordan Colern (intern@floridaliteracy.org)

SB Idea and Financial Literacy

Hello, my name is Adriana Alvarez and I am currently serving as an AmeriCorps VISTA member for S.B. Idea, Inc (SBI). SBI is a non-profit organization that runs family literacy academies in Palm Beach County, Florida with a mission to: “empower families academically and economically for self-sufficiency”.  April is not only Volunteer Month but also Financial Literacy Month and as a part of my yearlong service, I am implementing a financial literacy component into the family literacy curriculum.

Although I have no skills training with financial literacy, my parents instilled in me the importance of good financial habits, and how developing good financial habits can lead you to achieve various goals in your life, such as owning a home. Financial literacy is so important to the economic success of a family. I consider achieving the goal of implementing a financial literacy component as the most important of my VISTA commitments. In order to achieve this, I have helped SBI partner up with many useful resources in the community. SBI welcomed VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistant) representative and Senior Tax Consultant for the IRS, Shanana Bartolomei, into our academies to give a workshop on the importance of filing your taxes and how to get them filed for free.

SBI also partnered with PNC Bank, who is sending representatives to do a variety of workshops with our adult students as well as their children. PNC Bank currently runs a program titled “S” is for Savings”, in which PNC has partnered with Sesame Street to develop a child-friendly program in order to get children thinking about good financial habits, and to also get parents more involved in developing good financial habits with their children. I will be working closely with PNC representative from our local Lantana and Jog Branch to continue giving workshops on useful topics such as “How to get out of Debt”.

By the end of the school year I will assist our program mentor in giving an in-service workshop to our current teaching staff on how to implement financial literacy into their already existing curriculum. This will ensure that financial literacy becomes a staple in the learning achieved at the SBI family literacy academies.

As I have been experiencing this journey, I have found three easy and useful things everyone should consider when developing good financial habits:

1) Pay Yourself First. Having a savings account or an emergency fund can always help with life’s bumpy roads.
2) Know The Difference Between Needs And Wants. Understanding and accepting this difference makes developing good financial habits easier
3) The Power of Interest. Most financial institutions will stress the power of interest both negatively, when your paying interest on debt, and positively, when your earning money for doing nothing.

Top Stories in Literacy: April 23

Free or low-cost health-related events open to the public in Manatee and Sarasota counties
This story highlights all of the free or low cost events happening in this area. It is perfect for health literacy. Pass the information onto your students!

U.S. Department of Education Releases Blueprint to Transform Career and Technical Education
Secretary Duncan will hold a town hall to discuss how the Administration’s plan will ensure the education system provides high-quality job-training opportunities that reduce skill shortages, spur business growth, encourage new investment and hires, and spark innovation and economic growth.

Ad Council and Dollar General Literacy Foundation Launch New PSAs to Provide Young Adults the Motivation to Achieve their GED® Diploma
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, more than 34.6 million adults ages 18 and above do not have a high school diploma. In an effort to combat this critical issue, the Ad Council and the Dollar General Literacy Foundation joined today to launch new public service advertisements (PSAs) on behalf of their national GED Achievement campaign.

Century Correctional plans GED graduation
The number of Florida inmates earning GED certificates has nearly doubled in three years, increasing from 1,313 in 2006-07 to 2,603 in 2009-10.

Earth Day and Literacy!

Earth Day is this Sunday, April 22. What are you doing to celebrate? If you aren’t sure where you can focus your energy, try doing something with your students. Here is a list of different things you can do and websites you can visit to promote Earth Day Literacy!

Check out your EcoFootprint! Have you taken the quiz to see what your carbon footprint is? Many of us, myself included, are unaware of how our daily actions impact the environment. I like to think that I’m environmentally conscious and doing positive things, but we would need 3.51 Earths if everyone lived my lifestyle! From here, you can start a discussion with your student about different activities you can do to decrease your footprint.

Have your student read about the history of Earth Day. After your student is done reading, go over hard words and ask the student to rephrase the paragraph or page. Find examples of different English rules and practices you have been studying (ex. long vowels, consonant blends) and have your student point them out. Then have a discussion about what positive steps have been taken for the environment or possibly what environmental conditions were like in their country of origin.

State agencies provide many resources online about natural resources and environmental issues in each state. Parks, museums, and nature centers have many special programs for teachers and students. Learn about Florida’s resources and “plan” a trip to one of the areas. Have your student pick a location, schedule events, plan out the resources they would need to get to the location (food, gas, money), and turn it into an inclusive lesson! Perhaps include a Language Experience Story.

Last, National Environmental Education Week, PBS Teachers, National Geographic, ThinkFinity, and Earth Day Network have TONS of resources for you to use in the classroom.  Some of them are K-12 focused, so you might have to altar some of the lessons to better suit your adults.

Bringing the Best of Classroom-Based Learning to Online Learning (and Vice Versa)!

Could you imagine an adult education classroom where students are just given worksheet after worksheet or book after book to read on their own?  How dry and boring would that be, and, more importantly, how quickly would those classrooms be empty because students leave due to sheer boredom?  Now imagine the exact opposite of that first situation: a fun, interactive, visually-stimulating classroom where all three types of learning styles are accommodated and everyone’s engaged.  Doesn’t that sound a million (or more) times better?

What sometimes is assumed (and we all know what happens when you assume) is that an online class can’t or won’t have the same components as a successful, engaging, and fun face-to-face class.  But yet, nothing can be further from the truth!  By incorporating varying technologies, you can absolutely do virtually all of the amazing things online that you do in a classroom!  Want to have small group activities so you can target certain learners needing certain skills?  Yup – you can do that online!  Want to have large group instruction so you can get the most “bang for the buck?”  Yes – you can do that too!  What about student study groups or peer tutoring sessions?  Oh, that can certainly be accomplished!  How about having guest speakers talk to your students about how the things they’re studying in class pertain to “real life” beyond the GED test?  That’s easy to accomplish!  And the list goes on & on…experiments or lab studies, field trips, games, videos, etc!

So what does it all boil down to when everything is said & done?  Innovation, technology, and the willingness to try something new and different would be my answer.

Do you want to know more?  Well, I can’t give away all of my “secrets” now, but if you come to the FLC conference and attend the session called “Florida Adult & Technical Distance Education Consortium: Making F2F Classes for Online Students a Reality” at 10am on Friday, May 11th, you’ll learn more!

2012 Silent Auction Preview!

I have had the pleasure to speak with some of you already but for those of you I haven’t, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Jordan and I’ve been serving as FLC’s Event Coordinator Intern since January. My primary focus has been assisting in planning the 28^th annual Florida Literacy Conference and I have to admit that I’m extremely excited about our Silent Auction this year. I wanted to share a few of my favorite items we’ll have at the auction for our conference attendees to bid on!

• Two round-trip tickets to anywhere in the continental U.S. that Southwest flies. There are no blackout dates and checking luggage is always free with Southwest! Now there is no excuse to not take that tropical vacation you have been daydreaming of.
• Admission tickets into Florida’s most exciting attractions including; Seaworld, Universal Studios, Bush Gardens, and any of the four Disney parks. Make a family fun day out of any of these auction items!
• And my personal favorite auction items, three different photography packages for family portraits by Cason Photography. There is nothing like a beautiful family photo with Tampa’s natural beauty as your backdrop.

All proceeds from the silent auction will help FLC support community based literacy organizations with their training and program development needs. The auction will be open for bids beginning Wednesday, May 9 at 8:30am and will close on Thursday, May 10 at 3:10pm.

Besides the items aforementioned, we will have many more fabulous gifts to bid on so be sure to stop by the silent auction tables and bring back something for your loved ones!

.

Are there any items that you would love to see at our silent auction? Tell us about them and I will set out to see what I can do!

Financial Literacy at Marion County Literacy Council

We’ve taken a varied approach to deliver financial literacy information to our students at the Marion County Literacy Council.

Dmitriy Usher

The biggest component of our Financial Literacy plans is the wonderful curriculum and great volunteers provided by United Way of Marion County. The volunteers from UWMC all come from the financial sector. These individuals, having years of experience in all aspects of banking, are poised to help our students from the most basic issues, such as personal finance and budgeting, up to the more complex issues like managing ones credit or home loans.

These volunteers will conduct classes, open to everyone, at our office. We spread the word throughout the community using flyers, free print space in local papers, mass-emailing of contacts, word of mouth, and travel to various locations in the community to spread the word in-person.

In addition to stand-alone classes, we also integrate the financial literacy sessions into existing classes here at the Literacy Council. We allot a small portion of class time from our college & career coaching program for financial literacy instruction. After all, when someone lands a job, they will need to be able to manage their income, right?

We’ve also asked our financial literacy instructors to speak to our various ESOL classes. When time allows, the ESOL tutor will dedicate a portion of their class time.

Along the way, we’ve formed some fantastic partnerships with like-minded non-profits who also occupy our building. We do our best to make sure financial literacy tutors will be available to meet with their students whenever they have a class here.

Top Stories in Literacy: April 16

Teach Your Children Well-April is Financial Literacy Month
M&I, a part of BMO Financial Group, is using Financial Literacy Month to provide consumers a fiscal education lesson each week. This week’s tip is how your children can learn while they earn.

Young man with autism appeals to Obama for college opportunity
Billy Perogi is 20, autistic, and about to graduate from high school in Naples, Fla. He wants to go to college more than anything. Every school he and his mother have contacted has told them there is no program available for his specialized needs.

Indian River Adult education offering home health aide program
Indian River State College is offering career workshops on becoming a home health aide, security officer, phlebotomist, a new practical nursing program and excel classes for adult education students.

Job-seeking Collier County adults are back in class to catch up to computer skills
Fort Myers residents are among a growing number of both employed and unemployed adults seeking to better their lives and improve their current and future job marketability by going back to school for refresher courses on fundamental computer skills most of today’s teenagers take for granted.

Adult Learning Not Increasing With Internet Availability
Adults who are out of school are not necessarily active learners, for a number of reasons. With the growth of the Internet though, many hope that adults may use the technology available to them for some informal learning.